Oh Willy… Wins Award for European Animated Short

The winner of this year’s Cartoon d’Or for best European animation short film is Oh Willy…, by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels.

The award was handed out Thursday at the Cartoon Forum at the Théâtre National de Toulouse in France.

A stop-motion with puppets and sets made of wool, felt and other fabrics, Oh Willy… was co-produced by Beast Animation (Belgium), Polaris Film & Finance, Vivement Lundi! (France) and Il Luster Productions (Netherlands).

In the short, Chubby Willy returns to the naturist community where he has spent his youth to visit his dying mother. When she dies shortly after he arrives, Willy is confronted with the choices that he made in his life…

Cartoon Forum participants also voted for the producer, investor/distributor and broadcaster of the year to honor outstanding contribution to the European animation sector.

Jam Media of Ireland was named producer of the year, while another Irish company, Monster Entertainment, was named investor/distributor of the year. France’s Gulli was voted broadcaster of the year.

The Cartoon Forum is presented by CARTOON, an international non-profit association based in Brussels. CARTOON’s purpose is to support the European animation industry. For more than 20 years, it has received financial support from the MEDIA Programme of the European Union to run its activities.